Lady Mustangs crush Pecos 11-1

April 29, 2013

Sweetwaterâ€™s Kendra Crosson (with sunglasses) receives congratulations from teammate Suede Shirley (13) and others after hitting a second-inning home run against Pecos in the teamâ€™s 11-1 bi-district win on Saturday. (Photo by Ron Howell)

WOLFFORTH â€” Sweet-waterâ€™s 2013 softball team just keeps rewriting history.
The Lady Mustangs (21-13) â€” who were already the first softball team in the 17-year history of Sweet-waterâ€™s program to record 20 wins â€” added another historical footnote Saturday when they routed Pecos, 11-1, in five innings for their first playoff win ever.
â€śWe wanted it pretty bad,â€ť said senior pitcher Maty Montgomery, who allowed just four hits and struck out three to get the victory. â€śIt feels good.â€ť
Sweetwater was a first-round loser in its three previous postseason appearances, including a 9-0 loss to Iowa Park a year ago that involved several of the teamâ€™s current players.
But on Saturday, it was the fast-starting Lady Mus-tangs who were up 9-0 after just one inning.
They went on to finish off Pecos by the 10-run mercy rule in less than an hour, and advance to take on Pampa in the area playoffs later this week.
Sweetwater had just one more hit (five) than Pecos, but never broke a sweat aft-er scoring nine runs in the first inning on just three hits, including a two-RBI double by Alyssa Heredia and a two-run single by Suede Shirley, who also had a bunt single earlier in the inning. The Lady Mustangs also scored on bases-loaded walks to Morgan Gomez and Kelsi Crosson, plus an infield error, a passed ball and a wild pitch.
Sweetwater padded its advantage to 11-0 in the second when Kendra Crosson hit a two-run homer that also scored Abby Garcia, who came in as a courtesy runner after a one-out walk to catcher Keyli Turner.
The offensive damage was done, but Pecos managed only a single run in the fourth before being retired in order by Montgomery in the fifth to end the game.
Saturdayâ€™s win came aft-er a disappointing regu-lar season finish that saw Sweetwater lose two straight after wrapping up a playoff berth back on April 12.
â€śWe had a clean slate,â€ť said senior second baseman Jerren Villa. â€śWe just wanted to start over and do what we can do.â€ť
â€śWe had a lot of people that were saying after practice and taking extra (batting) cuts this week,â€ť Montgomery said.
â€śThere was a little more focus than usual.â€ť